Science Fiction and Fantasy

Well, I saw a bit of Sanctuary on-line, and it piqued my curiosity. However on DVD it sadly dissapointed.

The first episode has a strong beginning. Not only does it start with the feel of a good Twilight Zone, it also had seamless integration of CGI and live action.

15 minutes in and we've met cheesy monster #1, but hey, low budget TV, still in the 1980's Dr Who caliber, just a bit more PG13.

Then we meet the leader of the Sactuary, who seems to have one skill, she talks unemotionally in a British accent. The action hero is coerced into the situation. Kinda like a Warehouse 13 intro, not like Gwen Cooper signing up for Torchwood. So we kinda expect it to go okay, but then this dweeb over reacts to every monster he meets in the next 45 minutes. Comeon, you meet three bug eyed monsters, you kinda get shell shocked and dazedly roll with it after that. Maybe having Mrs. Brit monologuing, "maybe you're not the man I need after all" ad nauseum is stopping him from settling in.

Then this 40something woman allegedly has a 18 yr oldish daughter to which the heros spouts 'so what, you had her when you were 12'.

At that point I was 5 minutes from the end and saw it out.

Looks like the CGI got outsourced in a dozen different directions as the quality varied from "oh wow, that's cool for a low budget TV show" to "Euch, how 1994 CGI".

Acting was a variable.

Overall, I didn't bother with episode 2. It may suit some, afterall it was a successful web serial before it was a TV show. Lexx was popular but I just didn't get it (then again I'm not a 19yr old pot head either). I wonder if this was the first webisode I saw, or if they re-cast and started over for TV. Some shows have shaky beginnings, if you've heard good things elsewhere, then maybe they are only evident in later episodes.

i don't have quite the way with words that you do, but if i were to pick one word to describe that series, it would be "LAME". the acting was mediocre, and i found the fake british accent to be distracting. it feels like they took bits and pieces from all my favorite Sci-Fi shows, and tried to stitch them together to make one really good show, but in the end just ended up with a Frankenstein monstrosity.

i am, however, willing to give it one more season before i write it off as another series blunder because of my history with Stargate SG1. i absolutely LOVED that entire series, (and Atlantis after that) but if all i had only watched the first season, i'd probably be describing it the same as i would Sanctuary.

i've got Sanctuary Tivo'd, and am hoping that they just needed a season to get their rhythm. i don't think i can stay loyal to another season as bad as the first... i guess we'll see.

I wasn't sure, so I checked. Amanda Tapping, who plays Dr Helen Magnus is a Brit. She is from Essex, in the Home Counties, and so that would be close to here real accent.

There have been other Brits who ham up British accents on American TV (Daphne in Fraiser). I'm not sure why, maybe they are trying not to sound Australian (a common side effect of 3 years immersion in America if you are British.

There are other UK actors who act American in American shows (Mark Addy in one of those generic sit-coms about a 40 something couple with teen kids, tubby dad and feisty wife, and Hugh Laurie in House MD). Then there are Scottish actors who lived in the US for a bit and now use their Scottish accent personally and US accent professionally (John Barrowman - Jack Harkness of Dr Who & Torchwood).

One good fake Brit accent was Summer Glau in Firefly, when River talked almost Cockney to Mark Shepperds Badger.

Yeah, after years of "Saturday Night Fry", "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", "Friday Night Live", "Blackadder" and "Jeeves and Wooster", one thinks one knows Laurie's voice, then wham, House!